The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a motor controller and, more particularly, to a system for cooling a motor controller of an aircraft engine.
In modern aircraft engines, electrical power is generated by generators, which are driven by aircraft engines. Often, these generators are also used as electric starters to start engines. Motor controllers are used to control the starters and generator functions of these generators. Such motor controllers are often supportively disposed within the aircraft engine nacelle or other suitable locations such as electrical equipment bay (EE bay).
Generally, the motor controller includes various electrical components and sub-assemblies used for controlling generators, which generate electrical energy from the mechanical energy of the aircraft engine. The components and sub-assemblies include, for example, printed wiring boards, inductors and inverter modules, each of which generates varying amounts of heat that needs to be dissipated in order for the motor controller to operate properly. This is normally accomplished by flowing fuel or another suitable coolant, such as a Propylene Glycol water mixture, through a heat exchanger associated with the motor controller during ground operations. However, for some applications where a liquid cooled motor controller is used, only air and not liquid is available for cooling. The present disclosure provides a method where the existing liquid cooled motor controller can also be efficiently cooled by combination of two-phase cooling provided by the liquid cooled cold plate and air cooling.